The Principles of Nature: Historical Roots of Materialist and Idealist Views

The Principles of Nature
and its ethical implications

1. Historical roots of materialist and idealistic visions,
and monist and dualist views
2. Spirit and Matter must have been present at the Origin
of the Universe
3. Unity of the mental and material
4. Common origin of the mental and material
5. Harmony and unity between pairs of complementary
beings, male and female, and between opposing poles
in all beings, things and aspects of nature
CHAPTER 1 THE SEARCH FOR THE ORIGIN
Overcoming Materialism and Idealism

INTRODUCTION
From the dawn of history, humans have
always wondered about the origin of life
and the universe.
Fruit of their admiration for natural
phenomena such as the cycles of the
seasons, procreation and death, the
changes of the moon, the movement of the
sun and the stars, the first sages wondered:
Why does this universe exist? Where did it
come from? Why do we exist? What is the
meaning of our existence?
Throughout history, there have been
two conflicting answers to these questions.
One is the materialistic worldview,
which states that both the origin and the
universe are composed exclusively of
matter. His most popular current version
is the Big Bag theory. At first there was an
explosion of matter or energy, and from a
primitive soup of elementary particles the
whole universe was formed, including
ourselves.
This worldview is monistic in the sense
that matter is the only constitutive
substance of the universe.

Contrary to materialistic theories, in
the history of thought have also
appeared multiple idealistic or
spiritualistic worldviews, which place God
in the origin of the universe, a spiritual
entity, from which all things originated.
These worldviews are mostly dualistic,
in the sense that they affirm that there
are two constituent substances of the
universe, spirit and matter, which are of a
different nature. For example, classical
Christian doctrine about the creation
holds that God, who is pure spirit, created
matter ex nihilo, that is, from nothing.
In order to look for a solution that surpasses
these contradictory worldviews, and to inquire
about the origin of the universe, first, let us
briefly expose the historical roots of both pairs
of opposing views, materialist and idealistic
visions, and monist and dualist visions.

 Ancient Greek Philosophy
 Medieval Philosophy
 Modern Philosophy
 Materialistic Mechanicism
 Quantum Physics: Matter
has become indefinable
 Sheldrake:The Rebirth of
Nature
HISTORICAL ROOTS OF MATERIALIST AND IDEALISTIC VISIONS, AND
MONIST AND DUALIST VIEWS

Pythagoras (dualism)
Numbers and Proportions
The matter (extensive points)
Numbers
Matter
Ancient Greek Philosophy
Thales (hylozoist monism)
Arche (primordial element): Water
“Everything is full of gods”
Water
Parmenides (static monism)
Being (limited, immutable and static)
From non-being nothing can arise
Being

The early Ionian philosophers were the first to hold a
monistic view.They sought after the primordial and
original element from which all things come out and to
which they are reduced.Thales, for example, identified
this primordial element, or Arche, with water.The
monism of these early Ionian philosophers was
hylozoist (panpsychism). "Everything is full of gods,"
Thales said.
The dualism goes back to the Pythagorean
cosmogony. For Pythagoras numbers and proportions
were the constitutive elements of all things. Everything
originated from the One. But, to explain the
appearance ofTwo or Duality, the Pythagoreans
postulated the intervention of a void, a kind of non-
being that stood in the way and divided the One into
two, giving rise to the multiplicity of beings and things.
In fact, limited and unlimited, odd and
even, unity and plurality, right and left,
male and female, static and dynamic, light
and darkness, good and evil, and other
pairs of Pythagorean opposites had a
marked dualistic character in an ontological
and also ethical sense.
Parmenides, who was against this
Pythagorean dualism, affirmed that the
only thing that exists is the Being and that
non-being is unthinkable. He postulated
that nothing can arise from non-being. He
attributed to the Being the qualities of
limited, immutable and static.Thus,
change and movement do not exist, they
are only appearances.
Thales, Pythagoras and Parmenides

Democritus (materialistic monism)
Only atoms and emptiness exist
All things are random collections
of atoms
Atoms
Matter
Heraclitus (dynamic monism)
Change (Panta rei: everything
flows) and the opposites (heat,
cold, etc.)
Divine Logos (Creative Fire)
Logos
(Creative Fire)
the opposites

Heraclitus highlighted the change (Panta
rei: everything flows) and the existence of
opposites (heat, cold, light, darkness, etc.).
These are transformed into one another and
are in a relationship of tension and balance.
But, contrary to the ontological dualism of
the Pythagoreans, he affirmed the existence
of a Divine Logos, a cosmic reason, which
was the common thing, which maintained
the balance between the opposites.
He identified Logos with a primordial
element, the Creative Fire.This artistic fire
produced all things, and these in turn were
consumed by the fire.
Heraclitus and Democritus
Democritus, using the Pythagorean idea
that all things are made of points —which,
according to them, were both geometric
points and extensive material points
(pebbles)— and the Pythagorean belief in
the existence of an intermediary void, he
elaborated the atomist theory, which
affirmed that in the universe only exists
atoms in movement and emptiness.
He postulated that all beings and things
were random collections of atoms, thus
formulating the first materialistic
worldview as such.

Aristotle (hylemorphism/dualism)
Everything is composed of Form (eidos)
and Matter (hyle)
Forms (souls): eternal and uncreated
Matter (body): eternal and uncreated world
Matter
Form
Pure
Form
Prime
Matter
Plato (dualism)
The World of the Ideas or Forms (eternal
and uncreated ideal models)
The Sensitive World (matter) created by
the Demiurge on the basis of the Ideas
Ideas
Forms
Matter

Plato, taking a copper disk as an
example, asserted that the pure
geometrical circular form was the true
perfect and eternal reality, and the
material copper disc being merely an
imperfect copy of it.
In this way, he divided reality into two
worlds;TheWorld of the Ideas or Forms,
the eternal and perfect prototypes, whose
apex was the Idea of Good or God; and the
sensible MaterialWorld of the beings and
things that were forged by the Demiurge
(artisan) takings as models the eternal
Ideas, thus defending a dualistic view of
the universe.
Matter for Plato was like an empty receptacle
capable of taking on any form. InTimaeus he outlines
a geometric theory of matter suggesting that all
material reality was constituted by atoms in the form
of triangles, which combined in various ways could
construct all kinds of possible geometrical figures
and all material or sentient beings.
Plato

Aristotle, considering that the duplication of
the reality of his teacher Plato was unnecessary,
affirmed that the Ideas or Forms, the eternal
Platonic prototypes were found within the
beings and things.
Accordingly, he elaborated his famous
hylemorphic theory that states that all beings
and things are composed of Form (eidos) and
Matter (hyle).
The “forms” (Platonic ideas) were the soul or
essence that define what things are, and
“matter” was the body or substrate (clay, stone)
that possessed the potential to acquire multiple
forms.The forms or souls inherent in beings had
the power to move bodies towards their
perfection.
Although he speculated with the idea of a
primordial matter, he ended up postulating
the eternity of the world.Together with this
eternal material world, he defined the
concept of God as pure form and first
mover, whose function was to move the
world and bring it to its ultimate end.
In this way, he established a dualism of
substances; on the one hand, there was the
eternal and uncreated world of compounds
of form and matter and, on the other hand,
the pure forms or souls, which produced a
hierarchy whose summit was God, the
supreme form or thought of thoughts.
Aristotle

Plotinus (spiritualistic monism)
EmanationTheory
One Intelligence Souls Matter
Matter
Souls
Intelligence
One
Stoics (neutral monism)
Logos: Universal Reason
Pneuma (active principle, subtle matter)
Matter (passive principle, rough matter)
Pneuma
Matter
Logos

The Stoics, combining Heraclitus’ Divine Logos-
Fire with the concepts of form and matter of
Aristotle, taught that everything is composed of
an active principle or pneuma, which was like the
soul or logos, and a passive principle or matter.
Pneuma was a subtler matter that penetrated
ordinary matter and held it together. Since this
logos-pneuma could be transformed into matter,
and matter into pneuma, their vision was monistic.
Moreover, apart from believing in a universal,
divine and provident Logos, they claimed that
each thing had its own logos, which was like its
reason, plan or design.Therefore, the origin of
things was explained from these seminal logos
that produced them.
Plotinus attempted to systematize
Platonism by asserting thatGod, or the One, a
completely homogenous being and above all
duality, was the principle and prime cause of
all that exists.
Just as heat and light come out from the
sun by natural irradiation, so all things
emanate from God necessarily because of His
excess of power.
After intelligence (world of Platonic ideas),
the soul of the world and the particular souls,
matter was the most degraded and distant
procession of the One, almost on the borders
of non-being, thus maintaining a spiritualist
and monistic view at the same time.
Stoics and Plotinus

St. Augustine (dualism)
The PlatonicWorld of Ideas = in the
Mind of God
Creation of matter from nothing (ex
nihilo)
God
(Ideal
models)
Spirits
Souls
Matter
Bodies
Ibn Gabirol
The three roots:
• God
• The Universal Form (Spirit)
• Universal Matter (Primal Matter)
God
Universal
Form
Universal
Matter
Medieval Philosophy

St. Augustine placed the world of Platonic
ideas in the Mind of God, defining them as
the ideal models of things that God later
created by a voluntary act of love. He
assumed the dualism of Aristotle, holding
that God is pure spirit.
First, God created from nothing a
primordial matter.And then, He gave it a
form by planting in the matter the seminal
logos (prototypes or ideal models) of each
creation. St.Thomas and the main medieval
Arab and Jews philosophers assumed this
doctrine of creation from nothing and the
dualism that it implies.
St. Augustine and Ibn Gabirol
Ibn Gabirol in his book The Fountain of Life
elaborated the concepts of universal form and
universal matter. Since the effect must be similar to
the cause that originates it —our author
maintained— all types of matter must come from a
primordial universal matter, and all kinds of forms
must have its source in an original universal form.
Thus, for Ibn Gabirol everything that exists can be
reduced to three roots. Namely, God, universal
matter and universal form. He kept the traditional
concept of creation from nothing as an act of divine
will, but he raised matter, unlike Plotinus, to a
position very close to God, giving it the dignity of co-
cause or co-origin of all things.

Modern Philosophy
Descartes (dualism)
Universe-clock
God
Soul
Spirit
World
Matter
Watchmaker
Only man has
soul (thinks)
The three substances:
• God (the infinite)
• Soul/Mind (res cogitans:
thinking thing)
• World / Matter (res extensa:
extensive thing)

Descartes, accentuating the Aristotelian and
Christian dualism, elaborated his famous dualistic
theory of the separation of the soul or spirit from
matter, as two completely different substances
that have nothing in common.
Thus, according to Descartes there are three
substances: God or infinite substance;The soul or
the human spirit (res cogitans: thinking thing); and
the world or matter (res extensa: extensive thing).
In the material world minerals, plants and
animals are machines or automatons, with
pressure and shocks being the only forces acting
on them. Man is the only one who thinks (soul),
although his body is a machine like the rest of
beings and things of the world.
Descartes
God created the world as a huge clock that
works according to eternal laws.Then He put it
in motion by giving it the first impulse.And from
then on it continued to function only on the
basis of pressures and shocks, similar to the
mechanisms and clocks that were manufactured
in the days of Descartes.

Materialistic Mechanicism
Only matter, mechanisms and
laws exist
The machine-world is eternal
and uncreated
God is not necessary (the
watchmaker is discarded)
(materialistic monism)
God
Soul
Spirit
Matter
Universe-clock
Universe-clock without
watchmaker
The spirit is the
ghost inside
the machine

For the early materialist philosophers and scientists it
was very easy to eliminate this Cartesian substantial
dualism, simply assuming that both the laws and the
universe-clock were eternal, as Aristotle thought.They
disregarded the services of the watchmaker, and also
affirmed that man was a machine like other animals and
living beings, relegating the imaginary human spirit to
the category of ghost within the machine.
This materialistic mechanicism has been a very
influential ontological belief among scientists, at least
until the end of the nineteenth century, and until today
among biologists, for whom all living beings, including
ourselves, are simply sophisticated mechanisms fruit of
the random mutations of DNA and natural selection.
Basically, this ontological belief is
a materialistic monism very similar
to the old atomist vision of
Democritus.
All beings and things are bunches
of molecules, atoms and particles
that differ only in the degree of the
complexity of the compound, which
can be ultimately reduced to those
and which are governed by the
same laws of physics and chemistry.

Quantum Physics: Matter has become indefinable
However, with the
advent of quantum physics
in the early twentieth
century, matter has
become indefinable. As
Popper said, “materialism
has surpassed itself.”
«We know today that the exploration of the
outer world with the methods of physical
science does not lead us to a concrete reality,
but to a world of shadows and symbols, below
which these methods are incapable of
penetrating.
If today physicists are asked what they have
finally decided to be atoms or electrons, they
will not respond by talking about billiard balls or
turbines, or any other concrete thing; they will
refer more to a series of mathematical symbols
and equations that reflect their behavior
satisfactorily.»
Sir Arthur Eddington, Cuestiones Cuánticas, ed. K. Wilber,
Kairós, Barcelona, 1987, p. 225.
Sir Arthur Eddington
The planetary deterministic models of the
atom's structure had to be abandoned. Now,
particles sometimes appear as waves of a quantum
field of unknown physical nature, and sometimes
as corpuscles or energy packs. Eddington explain
the new situation in this way:
K. R. Popper, El yo y su cerebro, Editorial Labor, Barcelona,
1993, p. 9.

«The mathematical laws formulated from quantum theory
clearly show that our ordinary intuitive concepts cannot be
applied unambiguously to elementary particles.
All the words or concepts we use to describe ordinary physical
objects, such as position, velocity, color, size, etc., are undefined
and problematic when we try to apply them to elementary
particles...
It is important to realize that while the behavior of elementary
particles cannot be described unambiguously in ordinary
language, mathematical language, on the other hand, lends itself
quite adequately to account for what happens, in a very precise
way.»
Werner Heisenberg, Cuestiones Cuánticas, ed. K.Wilber, Kairós, Barcelona, 1987, p. 85.
Quantum Physics: Matter has become indefinable
Heisenberg, famous for
formulating the uncertainty
principle that ended materialist
determinism in physics,
explains that mathematical
language is the only one
capable of describing the
elementary particles.

The Rebirth of Nature
The fields of forces, which in the
nineteenth century were supposed
to be made of a subtle matter or
ether, now perform functions
similar to the old Aristotelian souls
or the alchemists active principles,
in the sense that their task is to
organize the particles and maintain
its cohesion through an interaction
or exchange of photons or energy.
In addition, it seems that these
fields control particles by
complicated mathematical
equations.
Since the last decades of the twentieth century
it seems that the sciences are returning to the
Renaissance. The ancient vital principles, souls
and hidden forces that were exorcised by the
mechanists are reemerging, but with different
names.
Now they speak of an evolutionary and
creative universe that has the capacity to self-
organize or self-regulating. They speak about
systemic properties, organizational principles,
emerging holistic laws, new types of nonlocal
and descending causation, morphogenic fields,
and a creative and organicist evolution.

«Nature is now once again seen to be self-organizing. Instead
of the soul of the universe and all the other kinds of soul within
it, the basis of this self-organization is now seen as the universal
field of gravitation and all the other kinds of fields within it.
Indeterminism, spontaneity, and creativity have reemerged
throughout the natural world. Immanent purposes or ends are
now modeled in terms of attractors. And beneath everything,
like a cosmic underworld, is the inscrutable realm of dark
matter.
These developments have brought back many of the features
of animate nature denied in the mechanistic revolution; in
effect, they have begun to reanimate nature.»
Rupert Sheldrake,The Rebirth of Nature, Bantam Books, NewYork, 1991, p. 95.
Sheldrake: The Rebirth of Nature
Rupert Sheldrake,
an English biologist,
expresses himself in
these terms in his
book The Rebirth of
Nature.

The collapse of the certainty in scientific knowledge
With the collapse of neopositivism, the presumption
that scientific knowledge is the only true knowledge
has come down. All scientific theories are tinted with
ontological assumptions, beliefs, values and even
prejudices and dogmas. In addition, they cannot be
verified with either the experiments or the facts,
because the way the experiments are done or the way
the facts are observed is also soaked with values or
beliefs.
This, together with the current proliferation of
contradictory scientific theories, is what has caused
the crisis of truth and rationality, which had its last
stronghold in science. The positive aspect of this
situation is that there is greater freedom of thought
and research creativity today.
At the Enlightenment people fought to
free themselves from the dogmas of the
Church. Now it may be necessary to fight
against some of the old prejudices and
dogmas of so-called modern science.
The Enlightenment was the triumph of
a reductive rationality charged with a
strong prejudice against the medieval
religious worldview and the proliferation
of occult forces, magic, Platonism and
mysticism of the Renaissance. It seems
that the pendulum now beats to the
opposite side. Hopefully we can find a
balance.

 Spinoza: Unity ofThought and Matter
 Giordano Bruno: Spiritual and Material First
Root
 “Law of resemblance between cause and effect”
 The first cause or God must also contain mental
(sungsang) and material or energetic aspects
(hyungsang)
 Two new philosophical concepts: Sungsang and
Hyungsang
 The UnificationThought
SPIRIT AND MATTER MUST HAVE BEEN PRESENT AT THE ORIGIN OF
THE UNIVERSE

Spinoza corrected Descartes by
asserting that God is the only
substance that exists (monism),
because it is the cause of
everything and the only substance
that does not need another to exist.
According to Spinoza, thought
(spirit) and matter are not two
separate substances, but are
merely attributes of that single
substance.That is, the origin, the
first cause of everything, is both
thought and matter.
«The thought is an attribute of God,
or, in other words, God is res cogitans
(thinking thing)...
The extension is an attribute of God,
or, in other words, God is res extensa
(extensive thing).»
Espinosa, Ética,Aguilar, Madrid, 1978, pp. 87-88.
Spinoza: Unity of Thought and Matter

«Theo.—Then the universe will have a first
principle which will be understood to be
indistinctly material and formal. Hence it is
neither difficult nor difficult to accept that the
whole, according to substance, is one, as
understood by Parmenides, who was
disgracefully treated by Aristotle.
Dicsono.—So, even when descending on this
scale of nature there is a double substance,
spiritual and material, you pretend, however,
that the one and the other are reduced to one
being and one root.»
G. Bruno, «Sobre la causa, principio y unidad», en Magia,
mundo, memoria, I. Gómez de Liaño, Biblioteca Nueva, Madrid,
1988, pp. 108-109.
Giorgiano Bruno also attributes
materiality to God, arguing against
Aristotle's dualism that the
principle of all things was not only
the formal cause of the universe,
but should also be its material
cause.This first principle was the
source of all forms (souls) and all
matter in creation.
Giordano Bruno: Spiritual and Material First Root

The reasoning is simple, if God is
the beginning of everything, matter
should also have its origin in God.
This reasoning is based on a very
old axiom expressed in many forms
that can be called “law of the
resemblance between the cause and
the effect,” or between the creator
and his work.
That is, in the effect cannot appear
something that is not in the cause.
It is not logical to say that God
created matter out of nothing.
But, it is equally absurd to say
that in the origin there was only
matter and then the mind
miraculously arose.
Therefore, the most logical
thing is to think that spirit and
matter must have been present in
the first cause or origin of the
universe.
“Law of resemblance between cause and effect”

In the effect cannot
appear something that
is not in the cause
“Law of resemblance between cause and effect”
Matter
Spirit
Spirit
Matter
Idealism: Creation of Matter from Nothing Materialism: Miraculous Emergence of the Spirit
Matter
Spirit
Matter
God
(Spirit)
Spirit
Matter

«[God’s absolute attribute] refers to mind
possessing energy, or on the other hand, to
energy possessing mind.
That is to say, energy and mind are not
totally different elements, but are originally
united as one.
This absolute attribute manifests itself as
Sungsang, the mind of God, and as
Hyungsang, the body [energy] of God.»
Sung Hun Lee, New Essentials of Unification Thought, UTI,
Korea, 2006, pp. 9-10.
This is precisely what Unification
Thought advocates. Its argument is
simple: If in all beings and things of
the universe there are mental
(sungsang) and material (hyungsang)
aspects, and since the effect reflects
the nature of its cause —as the work
reflects its creator—, the first cause or
God must also contain mental
(sungsang) and material or energetic
aspects (hyungsang), and be the
origin of both aspects.
The first cause or God must also contain mental (sungsang) and
material or energetic aspects (hyungsang)

UnificationThought introduces two new
philosophical concepts, sungsang (internal
character) and hyungsang (external form).
In fact, there is no translation inWestern
languages that is true to its original meaning.
Basically, they are two concepts
similar to Aristotelian form (eidos) and
matter (hyle), and to the classic duality of
spirit (mind) and matter (body), but with
two significant differences:
1) They are not essentially
heterogeneous, but both contain
mental and energy elements in
common.
2) They do not have a different origin,
but are inseparable aspects of all
beings and things, have a common
origin and have the same
homogeneous nature.
Sungsang
Hyungsang
Form (eidos)
Matter (hyle)
Spirit (mind)
Matter (body)
≈
≈
≈
≈
Two new philosophical concepts: Sungsang and Hyungsang

Sungsang (spirit)
Common origin
«Sungsang consists primarily of
mental elements, but there is some
element of energy in it as well. In
Sungsang, the mental element is
predominant over the element of
energy.
Likewise, Hyungsang is made of
energy, but there is some mental
element included in it.
Thus, Sungsang and Hyungsang are
not totally heterogeneous elements.
Both have the mental element and the
element of energy in common. (…)
In the Original Image (God), Sungsang and
Hyungsang are united into one. They are at the
root one and the same absolute attribute, from
which are engendered the different Sungsang and
Hyungsang.
When this absolute attribute is manifested in
the created world through creation, it becomes
two different elements.
This is analogous to the drawing of two straight
lines from a single point. One of the lines, in this
case, corresponds to Sungsang (or spirit), and the
other corresponds to Hyungsang (or matter).»
Sung Hun Lee, New Essentials of Unification Thought, UTI,
Korea, 2006, p. 10.
Hyungsang (matter)

The Unification Thought harmonizes the monistic and dualistic visions, and
overcomes materialism and idealism
In this way, Unification Thought harmonizes
monistic and dualistic visions, asserting that
sungsang (spirit) and hyungsang (matter),
which in the universe are manifested dually as
two heterogeneous separate substances
(dualism), at the origin are united into a single
homogeneous substance (monism).
In addition, it overcome materialism and
idealism by showing that the universe comes
not only from matter or from spirit, but from a
single substance in which the material and
spiritual are completely united.

 Mental processes in humans
 Mental processes in the rest of living
beings
 Autonomy and creativity in living
organisms
 Mental processes in atoms and
particles
 “Mind and matter merge into one
thing”
UNITY OF THE MENTAL AND MATERIAL
 The layered structure of all
beings and things
 Staggered distribution of
mental processes (autonomy
and creativity) and material
processes in the different
levels of beings and things
 Principle of the unity of the
mental and material

UNITY OF THE MENTAL AND MATERIAL
This is a first basic assumption derived from the
Unification Thought worldview with which, in line
with the philosophical tradition of Ibn Gabirol,
Giorgiano Bruno and Spinoza, among others, it
attempts to overcome monism and dualism.
To prove its validity, we will analyze in more detail
the mind, or mental processes, and matter, or
material processes, as they manifest in nature. For
convenience, and to be able to better define these
mental and material processes, we will begin with
human beings and then we will go down to the
Mental Aspect
Mental Processes
Material Aspect
Material Processes

Self-awareness and unique personal identity
Functional part of the mind (developing ideas,
managing data, processing information)
Intellect (truth: philosophy, science)
Emotion (beauty: art) andWill (goodness: moral, religion)
Data, representations, concepts, ideas, images, symbols, words,
propositions, numbers, mathematical formulas.
Objective part of the mind (information)
Perception
(sensitivity)
Understanding
(judgment)
Reason
(inferences)
Aesthetic
and moral
sensitivity
Judgment (evaluation
of emotions and
behaviors)
Reflection (intuition)
Artistic creativity and
moral principles
Mental processes in humans
Characteristic features of human
mental processes:
Language, writing and learning
through symbols
Intentionality and mechanisms
Autonomy (freedom) and creativity
Material or energy support

In humans, it is where the mental aspect
becomes more evident, for, while they are a
complex combination of atoms and molecules
and a living organism composed of cells where a
series of biochemical processes take place, they
clearly show a mental activity, which by
common sense is recognized in many
phenomena such as remembering, reflecting,
meditating, planning, understanding,
interpreting, reasoning, guessing, speculating,
having expectations, longing, choosing,
deciding, etc.
Of all these mental aspects, human beings
stand out over the rest of the creatures by
possessing a self-awareness and a unique
personal identity.
Mental processes in humans
In mental processes two parts can be
distinguished. A functional and operative
part —that using the computer language
could be called the software that processes
the information— and another objective
part composed of information, data and
mental objects.
These data and mental objects are
composed of representations, concepts,
ideas, images, icons, symbols, words,
propositions, numbers, mathematical
formulas, theories, principles or laws,
which is information manipulated and
processed by the functional part of the
mind.

The functional and operative part of the mind can be
divided into three main functions or faculties, namely,
intellect, emotion and will.
The intellect impels us to ask, to inquire and to seek
knowledge or truth.
Emotion is the ability to experience a whole range of
feelings and passions, and impels us to seek beauty and
to experience joy and happiness in all kinds of
relationships, especially in the love relationships between
humans.
Will is the ability to make decisions, choose, want to do
something and be determined to do it, and impel us to do
right or good, and also to do what is most effective,
useful or convenient.
The functional and operative part of the mind
Mind
Intellect Emotion
Will

The third stage is the stage of reason
(inferences), in which inferences are made from
particular cases trying to discover general laws
and principles. At this stage hypotheses are also
ventured and theories and beliefs are elaborated.
Emotional and volitional processes also follow
three similar stages. There is always a first stage
of sensitivity or reception of emotions or stimuli.
Then there is a second stage of judgment or
valuation of emotions and behaviors, such as
aesthetic and moral judgments. And in the end
there is a more reflexive and intuitive stage, which
is the stage in which artistic creativity and
profound reflection on universal moral principles
takes place.
Three stages in the intellectual, emotional and volitional aspects
The intellectual process of acquiring
knowledge can be divided into three stages,
following the Kantian scheme and terminology.
First, perception (sensibility) occurs, which is a
process of reception, recognition and elaboration
of all the information that comes through the
senses and which is codified in the form of mental
representations, concepts and data that are
stored in memory.
Then comes the stage of understanding
(judgment), in which the new knowledge is
judged, valued or compared with those acquired
previously. Also, different concepts are related
and associated looking for correlations and
causes, and one tries to understand how things
work.

In addition to this intentional character, mental
processes also have a mechanical aspect. Many of
the mental operations are mechanical and
repetitive, following defined laws, rules and
procedures. Most of the processes of collection,
codification and manipulation of information that
occur in the stage of perception and understanding
have this mechanical character. However, the stage
of reason is more intentional and intuitive.
The intentional and mechanical character of
mental processes are inseparable and
complementary aspects. Every mechanism, law or
regularity, implies design and intention. And all
intention implies means, instruments or
mechanisms to reach the goal towards which it is
aimed.
The intentional and mechanical components of mental processes
Mental processes, although they seem like a
continuous flow of emotions and thoughts,
possess a strong intentional component.
Desires drive us to pursue values, goods, goals
and ends.
The intellect, the emotion and the will impel
us to pursue the values of truth, beauty and
goodness. All human cultural activities
correspond to these three values.
The scientific, philosophical and academic
activities are guided by the search, acquisition
and distribution of knowledge and truth.
Artistic activities are guided by the pursuit of
beauty and aesthetic enjoyment. And religious,
ethical and political activities are guided by the
pursuit of goodness or justice.

Material or energetic support of mental processes
In addition, all mental processes require some material
or energy support. It is easy to see how ideas, plans and
projects are codified in language and writing, and thus
acquire a material support in the form of books,
instruments or objects of art. Likewise an emotion, a
thought, a desire are not something totally immaterial but
have a component of force or energy.
In fact, feelings or love possess many properties similar
to those of the fields of electromagnetic forces. Attraction
and repulsion, induction, remote action. In addition, ideas,
beliefs and desires exert an undeniable causal effect on
behavior. There is a causal interaction that goes from the
mental to the physical and from the physical to the
mental. If the mental was completely immaterial and the
material lacked any mental aspect this interaction would
be impossible.

A certain degree of awareness and memory (without
self-awareness and unique personal identity)
Functional part of the mind (handle representations,
process information)
A certain degree of Intellect
A certain degree of Emotion andWill
Iconic representations, images, signals, basic emotions
Objective part of the mind (information)
A certain degree
of perception
A certain degree
of understanding
Inborn instincts
(without reason)
Sensitivity
Emotions and
behaviors
Some valuation
of emotions and
behaviors
Instinctive emotions
and behaviors
(without reflection)
Mental processes in the rest of living beings
Characteristics of all living
beings:
Intentionality and mechanisms
Autonomy and creativity
Information processing

Beginning with higher living beings, when
we observe the clearly intentional behavior of
animals, there is no choice but to suppose that
they also possess a mind. They must have
mental processes and a certain degree of
consciousness, even if they do not reach the
degree of self-awareness or self-reflection
capacity of the human mind.
By their behavior it can be deduced that
they also possess a certain degree of
intelligence, emotion and will. In the
emotional and volitional aspect, cases of
almost human affective, altruistic and
cooperative behavior can be observed.
Mental processes in the rest of living beings
On the intellectual side, the difference
might be that their mental processes are
limited to the perception, elaboration, and
storage of simple mental representations, and
to a certain degree of understanding or
judgment to compare, associate, and relate
different mental representations to each
other.
But it is clear that animals lack reason,
understood as the capacity to conceptualize,
to articulate a language, to elaborate a
discourse and to infer universal laws and
principles, which is, in fact, the source of
human inventiveness and creativity.

They supply this lack of reason with surprising
instincts for us, since we have few innate instincts. It is
astonishing, for example, the sense of orientation of
migratory birds. The intelligence, knowledge and
foresight that would be needed to plan and execute
such behavior seems to surpass the intellectual
capacities of animals. On the other hand, observing that
the animal behavior is quite repetitive and little creative
it is logical to think that it is a genetically programmed
behavior.
In plants, we can also observe instinctive behaviors by
watching how the roots grow in search of water, how
branches and leaves look for sunlight, and how flowers
seem to want to attract insects in order to reproduce.
W. H. Thorpe, «El reduccionismo en la biología», en Estudios sobre la
filosofía de la biología, F. J. Ayala y T. Dobzhansky, Ariel, Barcelona,
1983, pp. 167-169.

To have autonomy means to have a
certain margin of maneuver or a
certain capacity to regulate itself to
adapt to the changes of the
environment in order to satisfy the
vital necessities.
The creativity has two aspects: one
is the amazing ability to reproduce
itself; And another is the capability to
affect, influence and modify the
environment to accommodate to the
own ends.
They are two characteristics common to all living organisms
In order to be able to exercise
these capacities of autonomy and
creativity, the organism needs to
gather information from the
environment, process that
information and then select or
choose a motor response among
several possibilities, which is
essentially what defines a mental
process.
Autonomy and creativity in living organisms

A single unicellular organism, besides being
a mechanism guided by laws, collects and
processes information.One can already see —
as Popper very well points out— that «there is
a center of activity, of curiosity, of exploration,
of planning: there is an explorer, the mind of
the animal.» Or, what is the same, has a
capacity for autonomy or choice and creativity.
These capacities of autonomy and creativity
increase as we climb the scale of living beings.
They are an expression of the fact that a
rational capacity or intelligence with a marked
intentional character intervenes more and
more in their mental processes.
1993, p. 33.
There are botanists who attribute to plants
not only intelligence but also emotions.The
plants would be able to respond, expressing joy
through emitting a certain type of vibrations, to
the care or attentions of their owners.
In higher animals, it is evident that in their
mental processes rational elements of
intelligence, emotions and desires of a marked
intentional character intervene.
PeterTompkins & Christopher Bird, The Secret Life of Plants,
Haper and Row Publishers, NewYork, 1973.
Autonomy and creativity in living organisms

Quantum fields of forces that form and
control particles and atoms by numerical
constants and mathematical laws
resemble mental processes.
Quantum indeterminism can have two
causes: chance or a certain capacity for
self-regulation (autonomy).
The atom, more than a cloud, is
becoming more and more like a cell.
Thus, quantum indetermination may very
well be due to a plasticity, sensitivity, or
self-regulating ability of the atom itself.
This would imply the existence of
some sort of information processing or
mental processes even in the atomic
domain.
The English physicist David Bohm stated that «in old
physics, matter (which was the only reality) was
completely mechanical, leaving no room for the mind. But
if, according to the new physics, everything is folded in
everything else, it turns out that there is no real
separation of domains. The mind arises from matter.
And matter contains the essence of the mind.»
D. Bohm, El Paradigma Holográfico, Kairós, Barcelona, 1987, p. 220.
And on another occasion, he said that «even inanimate
matter must have some kind of mental aspect...Of
course, this does not mean that knowledge can be
attributed to electrons or other particles... However, the
fundamental thing is that there is no abrupt cut between
knowledge, life and matter, whether animate or
inanimate.»
D. Bohm y D. Peat, Ciencia, orden y creatividad, Kairós 1988, p. 235.
Mental processes in atoms and particles

Thus, it can be concluded that mental
and material processes are two
inseparable aspects that are present to a
greater or lesser degree in all entities of
the universe.
Scientists such as Bohm, Jeans, and
Eddington speak of a continuum of
matter-mind as the fundamental reality
of the universe.
«If we delve deeper and deeper into the immanence that
resides in matter, I believe that we will eventually arrive at
the current which we also feel as mind, so that mind and
matter merge into one thing.»
David Bohm, El Paradigma Holográfico, Kairós, Barcelona, 1987, p. 218.
«The mind has ceased to be regarded as an intruder in
the domain of matter;We are beginning to suspect that we
should rather greet her as the creator and governor of the
realm of matter.»
Sir James Jeans, Cuestiones Cuánticas, ed. K. Wilber, Kairós, Barcelona,
1987, p. 196.
«To put it bluntly, my conclusion is that the world is
composed of mental “matter.”»
Sir Arthur Eddington, Cuestiones Cuánticas, ed. K. Wilber, Kairós,
Barcelona, 1987, p. 259.
“Mind and matter merge into one thing”
David Bohm

Sun Myung Moon, from a mystical perspective, abounds in the same opinion:
«When viewed while in a mystical state, a single grain of
sand contains within itself the principles of the universe. A
single atom contains the boundless harmony of the universe.
All things that exist, though maybe not aware of it, are
resultant beings that formed through the action of complex
forces.
The smallest molecules, atoms, and even subatomic
particles do not exist unconsciously, but contain a certain
consciousness and purpose.
Thus, all things that exist have come into being through
God’s loving hand, and necessarily possess a bond of heart with
God.»
Sun Myung Moon, Speech Collection Books, Seoul, HSA-UWC, 9:168, (May 8, 1960).

The reality seems to be stratified on several levels
that show an increasingly complex degree of
organization. The higher levels include the inferior
ones, while revealing new mental and material
aspects that do not appear in the lower ones. Thus
the cells, while including the quantum world of
particles and atoms, show unique complex molecular
structures.
In terms of mental processes, we move from fields
of forces that organize particles according to
equations and mathematical laws to a field of life or
protoconsciousness with capacities of perception,
memory, information processing and motor
response, which gives the cells a certain autonomy
and creativity, including the ability to reproduce
themselves.
The layered structure of all beings and things

Plants and animals, while composed of cells and
including the quantum level, manifest higher and higher
mental processes that do not appear in atoms or cells,
namely, higher levels of consciousness, autonomy and
creativity. In the higher animals appear clear signs of
perception and judgment, as well as emotion, intelligence
and intentional behavior.
And in human beings’ mental processes, apart from
including all lower levels, show a high degree of self-
awareness or self-reflection, and a strong sense of personal
identity. In addition, the processes of perception and
understanding are completed with an intuitive and creative
reason, which is reflected in the development of an
articulated symbolic language, writing and all the unique
cultural activities and productions of the human species.
In short, recent scientific
knowledge of nature
confirms the first principle
of nature which is the
principle of universal
presence in all beings and
things of mental and
material processes.

Autonomy (Freedom) and Creativity
(Reason)
Superior Organic
Processes
Autonomy and Creativity
(Inborn instincts)
Organic and biochemical
processes
Autonomy and Creativity
(Life)
Organic and biochemical processes
Autorregula-ción
(razón) Physical-chemical processes
Self-regulation
(Law)
Human beings
Animals
Vegetables
Minerals
MATERIAL
PROCESSES
Organic and physical-
chemical
MECHANISMS
Staggered distribution of mental processes (autonomy and creativity)
and material processes in the different levels of beings and things
MENTAL PROCESSES
Emotion, Intellect, Will
Concepts, ideas, data
AUTONOMY AND CREATIVITY

Átomos
Moléculas
Vida
(mente vegetal)
Funciones
físico-químicas
Átomos
Moléculas
Células, tejidos
Estructura
Mente humana
Instinto
(mente animal)
Vida
(mente vegetal)
Funciones
físico-químicas
Átomos
Moléculas
Células, tejidos
Estructura
Sentidos,
Nervios
Cerebro humano
Átomos
Moléculas
Células, tejidos
Estructura
Sentidos,
nervios
Material processes
Hyungsang
Minerals
Vegetables
Animals
Human beings
Funciones
físico-químicas
Instinto
(mente animal)
Vida
(mente vegetal)
Funciones
físico-químicas
Mental processes
Sungsang
Atoms
Molecules
Life
(Plant mind)
Physico-chemical
functions
Reason (Human mind)
Instinct
(Animal mind)
Life
(Plant mind)
Physico-chemical
functions
Physico-chemical
functions
Instinct
(Animal mind)
Life
(Plant mind)
Physico-chemical
functions
Atoms
Molecules
Cells, tissues,
organs
Senses,
nerves
Human brain
Atoms
Molecules
Atoms
Molecules
Senses,
nerves
Cells, tissues,
organs
Cells, tissues,
organs

Principle of united and widespread presence in the
universe of mental and material (or energetic) processes.
Mental and material processes are two inseparable aspects
that are present to a greater or lesser degree in all entities of
the universe —according to their level—, being in humans
where it appears the highest degree of mental processes. Both
aspects are like two sides of the same coin.There is nothing
that is totally material without any mental aspect, nor is there
anything totally mental without any material aspect.
PRINCIPLE OF THE UNITY OF THE MENTAL
AND MATERIAL

 Reductionist
Paradigm
 Emergence
Paradigm
 Pampsychic
Paradigm
 Dualist Paradigm
(spiritualist)
COMMON ORIGIN OF THE MENTAL AND MATERIAL
 Unificationist
Paradigm
 A first cause defined as
an energetic mind or a
mental energy
 Principle of the
common origin of the
mental and material

COMMON ORIGIN OF THE MENTAL AND MATERIAL
Now we are going to delve into this second
basic assumption which derives from the
UnificationThought worldview that seeks to
overcome materialism and idealism.
Today it cannot be sustained the Aristotelian
idea of an eternal and uncreated world, nor the
idea of the first mechanists of an eternal universe-
clock. All levels of reality have been appearing
throughout a time process.
At first there were fields of forces and particles,
and then simple atoms, complex molecular
structures, stars, planets, single-celled organisms,
and later, different plant and animal species were
formed until reaching the human species.
We will begin by exposing and
criticizing the different scientific
paradigms that try to explain this process
of formation of the universe, to conclude
with the unificationist paradigm
defended by UnificationThought.

Reductionist Paradigm
This vision explains that after a first explosion
of energy a soup of particles was created, from
which all known chemical elements
spontaneously were formed, from the simplest
gases to the heaviest elements, thus
constituting the galaxies, stars and planets.
This reductionist view has its origin in the old
Greek atomism. All that exists in the universe
are conglomerates of simpler parts, so the
whole can be reduced and explained through its
simpler components. The image of the original
particle soup recalls the old Democritean image
an empty space where the atoms colliding with
each other, form all kinds of conglomerates.
Now it is known that the most simple or
irreducible parts of matter are not atoms or
particles. Because of this, nowadays they speak
of a first explosion of energy as the origin of the
universe. Energy became the simplest
constituent element since Einstein unveiled his
famous formula of equivalence between mass
and energy, E = mc2.
Thereafter, the particles began to be
considered as energy packs. In contemporary
quantum physics the fields of quantum forces
are considered to be the primary and
fundamental reality. The particles are merely
quantified packs of energy.

Steven Weinberg, El sueño de una teoría final, Crítica, Barcelona, 1994.
Weinberg tries to unify the known fields of
forces, gravitational, electromagnetic, and weak
and strong, into a single unified field, and formulate
a Theory of Everything, much like the fundamental
physical laws that govern the universe.
They would be —according to his reductionist
vision— the laws that would explain the appearance
of the universe. In other words, the basic laws from
which all other laws of nature would derive, such as
the laws of chemistry, the laws of mechanics, and
biological laws.
The dream of a FinalTheory

The impossibility of reducing all higher levels of mental processes
to matter
Matter
Atoms
Molecules
Life
Vegetables
Instinct
Life
Animals
Instinct
Life
Human
beings
Reason

The attractive part of this reductionist
view is the simplicity of the argument on
which it is based and its monism. It is
assumed that the evolution of the universe
has been a process in which the simpler and
smaller parts have gradually been merged
and joined to form increasingly complex
groups and systems.
It is therefore of common sense to
suppose that all that exists is merely
different combinations or groupings of
particles, since at the origin —after the
supposed explosion of energy— the first
thing that was formed were the particles.
Moreover, since the cause always
precedes the result in time, if at the source
there was only energy or matter, the end
result has to be simply energy or organized
matter in a more complex way, which could
ultimately be reduced to its cause.
The most serious problem of the
reductionist view is that the different levels
of things and beings with an increasingly
complex organization, which are supposed
to have been formed over time, are very
difficult to reduce to lower levels.
The impossibility of reducing all higher levels of mental processes to matter

The impossibility of reducing all higher levels of mental processes to matter
By logical coherence and by common sense, if all
that was in the beginning were those first particles and
everything else has been formed by combinations of
them, what exists at the higher levels should be able to
be reduced and ultimately explained by them and the
laws that govern them.
However, there are many chemical processes that
cannot be explained by the laws of elementary
particles.And if we move to living organisms, it seems
impossible to reduce them to mere molecular
structures. Even more irreducible is the appearance of
consciousness or mental processes in higher beings, in
which there is a very strong intentional component,
coupled with processes of collection, storage,
processing and selection of information, which are
very difficult to explain with particle physics.
For this reason, reductionist
scientists always refused to study
mental processes, claiming that they
were private and subjective, that they
lacked objectivity or simply did not
exist.
Now, they no longer deny that they
exist or that they have a causal effect
on behavior, but say that they are
identical to some kind of still
unknown physical processes occurring
within the brain.That is, they do not
lose hope that someday the thought
can be reduced to some chemical
reaction or interaction between
physical particles.

«The emerging paradigm, by contrast,
recognizes that the collective and holistic
properties of physical systems can display
new and unforeseen modes of behavior that
are not captured by the Newtonian and
thermodynamic approaches.
There arises the possibility of self-
organization, in which systems suddenly
and spontaneously leap into more elaborate
forms.»
Davies, Paul, The Cosmic Blueprint: New Discoveries in
Nature's Creative Ability to Order the Universe. NewYork:
Simon and Schuster, 1988, pp.197-198.
Emergence Paradigm
Faced with this impossibility of
reducing everything to physics, a new
vision has emerged, the so-called
emergence paradigm.These scientists
recognize that the new levels of
organization that emerge in nature,
although based on the lower ones, are
irreducible to them.
It is said that nature or matter have
the capacity to self-organize, to create
spontaneously ordered systems.
Therefore, there are jumps, absolutely
new things emerge. As Davies said:

The creative universe
Emergence scientists also
speak of new laws, higher level
laws, which are like holistic
organizational principles that
control the cooperative behavior
and global coherence of the new,
more complex systems, and make
possible the emergence of new
functions aimed at maintaining
the stability of new organisms
and systems. As Popper says, the
universe is creative.
«I suggest that the universe, or its evolution, is
creative and that the evolution of sentient animals
with conscious experiences has provided
something new.»
1993, p. 17.
The Emergence Paradigm

When talking about the emergence of totally new things it is impossible
to sustain a monism
The Emergence Paradigm
Matter
Atoms
Molecules
Life
Vegetables
Life
Animals
Instinct
Life
Human
beings
Reason
Instinct
The mysterious and miraculous emergence of new things lead to pluralism

When talking about the emergence of totally new things it is impossible to sustain
a monism
It is necessary to make real dialectical juggling —
as is the case of Ferrater Mora— to maintain that in
the beginning there was only matter and that
throughout the evolution have been emerging new
and irreducible things to the lower levels.
Our author claims that the lower levels are
necessary but not sufficient causes for the
emerging higher levels. But, contradicting what has
been said, he then adds that these lower levels are
sufficient enough that, under certain conditions,
they alone have given rise to the higher levels,
defending an impossible sui generis monism that is
neither monism nor pluralism.
J. Ferrater Mora, De la materia a la razón, Alianza, Madrid,
1979, pp. 22, 39.
The strength of this vision is that it
seems to fit better with the multiform
and extraordinarily rich reality of the
universe and adequately explains the
unique and differentiated
characteristics of the different levels of
reality that exist, in contrast to
reductionism which is simpler and
more coherent but that have to ignore
too many things.
However, the problem of
emergentism is that with this vision it
is very difficult to sustain a monism.

Science has spent centuries criticizing
religious people and spiritualists for
believing that God created all things out of
nothing and for being dualists, that is, for
admitting spiritual substances completely
different from matter, which in some
mysterious way can exert an influence on it,
and now the emergentist scientists believe
in a miraculous appearance of absolutely
new things, which seem to arise out of
nothing, and fall —no into dualisms— but,
even worse, into pluralisms.
It is the same as miraculous and
mysterious to believe that at first there
was only one mind, and then matter
appeared out of nothing, that to affirm
that there was at first only matter, and
then something totally new, mind or
consciousness, emerged from nothing.
To alleviate this incongruity they try to
inflate the concept of matter with all
kinds of properties and potentialities.
The mysterious and miraculous emergence of new things lead to pluralism

Panpsychist Paradigm
Some current scientists, as
Freeman Dyson, hold a panpsychist
view stating that the mind or spirit is
already present in some way in
matter.They speak of a matter that
includes the mind and that is capable
of self-organizing, creating order
and being creative, forward-looking
and innovative, in order to make the
transit easier to higher levels.
This is a vision similar to the old
hylozoism of the pre-Socratic
philosophers, or to animism present
in almost all primitive cultures.As
Thales said, "everything is full of
gods."
«The peculiar harmony between
the structure of the universe and
the needs of life and intelligence is
... a manifestation of the
importance of the mind in the
scheme of things...
Some of us may be willing to go
further... to support the hypothesis
that there is a universal spirit or a
soul of the world, underlying the
manifestations of intelligence we
observe.»
Freeman Dyson,Trastornando el universo,
F.C.E., México, 1982, pp. 282-284.

A new concept of matter enriched with the spirit
The idea is simple, the consciousness or
mind has been able to emerge throughout
the evolution because already it was
potentially in matter from the beginning.
Recent discoveries in biology and
quantum physics lead them to think that
primitive mental processes, such as
collecting, storing, and processing
information, and a certain choice, occur in
the simplest living things, or even
«It is stated a concept of enriched
matter and does not admit opposition to
the spirit, that is, it is a matter that
considers the so-called spirit as
something really not unlike it, that is, it is
not recognized the duality of matter-
spirit.»
F.J. Martínez Martínez, Materialismo, idea de
totalidad y método deductivo en Espinosa, UNED,
Madrid, 1988, p. 35.

The difficult passage from an animated matter to the higher
mental capacities
Life
Vegetables
Instinto
Vida
Animales
Instinct
Life
Human
beings
Reason
Life
Matter
Life
Atoms
Molecules
Instinct
Life
Animals

They tend to attribute to matter more
and more properties and capabilities to
make transit easier from one level to
another.
For example, they speak of a dynamic
matter, with the potential to acquire
multiple forms and a spontaneous ability
to self-organize.
They attribute to atoms even a capacity
for consciousness and thinking, so the
consciousness and thinking of the higher
beings would be the fruit of an evolution of
that ability.
The major problem with the
panpsychist theory is that, despite the
many properties or mental capacities
that are given to the particles or atoms,
a great gap remains between them and
the mental capacities of the higher
beings, so it is still very difficult to
explain the passage from one to
another.
The difficult passage from an animated matter to the higher mental
capacities

The supernatural implantation of the spirit in the human embryo
Other scientists with dualist
spiritualistic beliefs, such as
John Eccles, argue that the only
explanation for the emergence
of mind or spirit, especially the
level of human self-awareness
and unique personal identity, is
that it had to occur through a
supernatural intervention that
implanted the spirit in the
human embryo at some point
in its development.
«Thus, I am forced to believe that
there is what we might call a
supernatural origin of my unique
self-conscious mind, of my unique
self or my unique soul; which, of
course, gives rise to a whole new set
of problems. How does my soul get
linked to my brain, with its
evolutionary origin?»
John Eccles, El yo y su cerebro, Editorial
Labor, Barcelona, 1993, p. 628.
Dualist Paradigm (spiritualist)

Matter
Atoms
Molecules Vegetables Animals
Human
beings
Spirit
How can the spirit interact with matter when they have
nothing in common?
Are human beings the only ones who have mind and
consciousness?
Dualist Paradigm (spiritualist)

How can the spirit interact with
matter when they have nothing
in common?
Apart from the classical
difficulties of having to assume two
different origins, one for the spirit
and the other for matter, or to
believe that matter has been
created out of nothing, it is difficult
to explain how the spirit can
connect or interact with matter
when they are two substances that
have nothing in common.
In addition, it can be observed that mental
processes and consciousness are not things that
are exclusive to human beings, but occur also in
animals and, in general, in all living beings.
Then, according to the dualist thesis, it would
be necessary to suppose a progressive
implantation of the spirit throughout all the
evolution.
John Eccles tries to avoid this last obstacle by
denying that animals have a mind, thus limiting
the consciousness or spirit to the human being.
Are human beings the only ones who
have mind and consciousness?

All higher levels have a common cause that combine the whole emerging
properties
The error of these paradigms consists in
supposing that, since the particles were
the first things to be formed in the
process of the evolution of the universe,
these are the necessary and sufficient
cause of everything that came next, and
that all higher levels originated exclusively
from the lower levels.
The first cause or origin was not only
the cause of the formation of the first
particles, but also of everything that was
appearing with the passage of time.
And if we observe that new and
irreducible things are emerging at the
higher levels, such as the various levels of
mental processes and self-awareness, it
cannot simply be said that these things
have miraculously emerged from
nothing, as emergentists say, or from the
mental aspects of the lower levels, as the
panpsychists say, but they all must come
in some way from the first cause or origin
of the universe.
Unificationist Paradigm

In an international conference of
scientists, Sun Myung Moon
explained in a simple and concise
way this hypothesis of a first cause
that combines the essence of mind
and matter, as we can see in the
following quote:
«However, because the world of effect is made
of unified beings with two natures, the cause
must be a monistic being with the essence of the
two natures of matter and mind unified into one.
In other words, the ultimate cause must be an
absolute, unified being with two natures that can
create the attributes of mind and matter
respectively. Only from a unified and monistic
cause can a unified world of effect be brought
into existence.
That is, the unified effect must have a unified,
monistic being as its cause.»
Sun Myung Moon, The Role of Unified Science in the Moral
Orientation of the World, November 26, 1972, NewYork, USA.
A first cause that combines the essence of mind and matter

A God, in whom the mental and material aspects merge, who thinks, projects,
feels and acts, and who created matter with his own energy
Therefore, it is easy to suppose that in the
beginning there would be not only fields of
physical forces but also fields of vegetable and
animal life.
All of them would be included in an upper
field, which might be called the mind of the
universe, whose material support would be the
primary and basic energy from which all kinds of
matter were formed.
In fact, in this first cause, mind and energy
would be one and the same thing, a
homogeneous substance, which could be
defined as an energetic mind or a mental energy.
As a logical consequence of this hypothesis,
the affirmation of the existence of a first
intelligent cause is inferred.
This statement does not need to imply belief
in a God with a completely different nature
from the rest of the universe, and who
intervenes in nature in a miraculous and
supernatural way.
Rather, it would be a God, in whom the
mental and material aspects merge, who
thinks, projects, plans and acts; who made
matter with his own energy and directed its
evolution through the different fields of forces
that already existed from the beginning.
A first cause defined as an energetic mind or a mental energy

Upper Level Fields
(Self-awareness
Unique Identity, Reason)
Life fields
(Autonomy, creativity)
Fields of forces
Energy
Quantum
World
Energy
Instinct
Life
Self-awareness
Unique Identity
Reason
Life Fields
(Autonomy, Creativity)
Fields of Forces
Energy
First Cause
Energetic Mind or
Mental Energy
Quantum
World
Energy
Instinct
Life
Quantum
World
Energy
Atoms
Molecules
Living
Beings
Human
Beings
A first cause defined as an energetic mind or a mental energy
A God, in whom the mental and material aspects merge, who thinks,
projects, feels and acts, and who created matter with his own energy

Principle of the common origin of mental and
material processes.The mental and material aspects
share a common origin and the same homogeneous
nature, there is a continuity between both aspects, and
they can interact with each other.This common origin,
God or the first cause of the universe, could be defined
as an energetic mind or a mental energy, a God in
whom the mental and material aspects merge, who
thinks, projects, feels and acts, and who created
matter with his own energy.
PRINCIPLE OF THE COMMON ORIGIN OF THE MENTAL
AND MATERIAL

HARMONY AND UNITY BETWEEN PAIRS OF COMPLEMENTARY BEINGS, MALE AND FEMALE,
AND BETWEEN OPPOSING POLES IN ALL BEINGS, THINGS AND ASPECTS OF NATURE
In nature all beings and things appear in
the form of complementary pairs or parts,
or opposing poles: men and women, male
and female animals, stamen and pistil in
plants, cation and anion in molecules, and
proton and electron in the atoms.
The dynamic interaction between these
couples, parts or poles are the source of
generating forces that produce
multiplication, development, existence
and even give meaning to life.
Human life is generated from the union
of a man and a woman.The love between
men and women gives meaning to their
lives, and their union becomes the center
of the family and lineage.
The animals are reproduced by the
union of males and females, and the plants
by the interaction between the stamen
and the pistil.The minerals, formed by
molecules and atoms, exist by the
interaction between the cation and the
anion, and the protons and electrons.

Particles Positive Negative
Molecules Cation Anion
Atoms Proton Electron
Plants Stamen Pistil
Animals Male Female
Human beings Man Woman

In the universe and the cyclic movements of
nature you can also see elements, aspects and
opposing qualities such as stars and planets,
light and darkness, day and night, the
succession of seasons, heat and cold, heaven
and earth, oceans and continents, mountains
and valleys, concave and convex parts, high
and low, hard and soft, front and back, simple
and composed, active and passive, dynamic
and static, high and low sounds, light and
dark colors, straight lines and curves, sweet
and bitter, etc.
All this diversity, contrast, changes and
rhythmic cycles is what creates the harmony
and incredible beauty of the beings and
things of nature and the universe.

The opposites in ancient Greek philosophy
These phenomena of nature have always
attracted the attention of all the wise men
and philosophers of all cultures. Most of the
first Greek philosophers, in their search for
the immutable and eternal primordial
elements that are behind the change and the
transformation of some things into others,
considered these phenomena as mere
appearances that hide the essence of things.
However, there were several philosophers
who dealt with the problem of the opposites.
One of them was Pythagoras and another
Heraclitus.
Heraclitus
Pythagoras

Pythagoras
According to Pythagoras, the number was the
essential constituent of all things, and numerical
reasons were the principle of harmony and cosmic
order.
The universe originated from the One, the Divine
Monad and first cause of everything.The One was
divided intoTwo due to the intervention of a vacuum
or air, giving rise to Duality, which represents the ten
oppositions that manifest themselves in nature;
limited/unlimited, odd/even, unity/plurality, right/left,
masculine/feminine, motion/rest, straight/curved,
light/darkness, good/evil and square/oblong.
Duality generates all the other numbers and the five
elements (earth, air, water, fire and ether) that are the
constituents of a harmonious and orderly cosmos.
One
Divine
Monad
the ten oppositions
(limited/unlimited
odd/even, etc.)
Two
Duality
The opposites
Cosmos (Order)
the five
elements
earth
fire
air
waterether

Heraclitus
According to Heraclitus in nature there is a
continuous change and transformation of some
things into their opposites; cold and heat, light and
dark, high and low, etc. At the same time he
affirmed the existence of a divine Logos, a cosmic
reason, which was the common, the constitutive of
the things that make them contraries and the one
that guarantees that the change between the
opposites is proportional and balanced.
He identified the Logos with a primordial
element, a creative and artistic fire that produced
all things. “God [Logos] is day and night, winter
and summer, war and peace, satiety and hunger
[all the opposites]; He changes like fire, which,
when mixed with perfumes, is called according to
the fragrance of each one of them” (Fragment 67).
Unlike Pythagoras, who stressed the
harmonious union of opposites, Heraclitus said
that between the opposites there is a tension and
balance, like that between the bow and arrow,
which does not exclude a certain discord or
polemic. For this reason, he was the precursor of
the Hegelian and Marxist dialectic.
God [Logos]
Creative Fire
day and night,
winter and summer,
war and peace, etc.

Yin-Yang in the traditional Chinese philosophy
As explained byY.O. Kim, in Chinese culture «from
early times there were attempts to explain the
phenomena of the universe in terms of two cosmic
forces which represent female (yin) and male (yang),
darkness and light, soft and hard, inactivity and activity.
Everything in the world was supposed to result from the
interaction, conflict or harmony of the yin and yang
principles. (…)
Often connected to the yin-yang concept but
originally separate from it was another naturalistic
explanation of the universe known as the five elements
theory.According to its advocates, the five agents —
metal, wood, water, fire and earth— operating with
complete regularity, motivate and govern all growth
and change in the physical world.»
Y.O. Kim, World Religions, vol. 3, GoldenGate, NewYork, 1976. pp.
104,105.
T’ai-chi
The Five
Agents
earth
fire
wood
water metal
Universe
Yang
Light
Masculine
Yin
Darkness
Feminine
The Great
Ultimate

The Book of Changes (I Ching)
According to Chan, «The yin yang
doctrine is very simple but its influence has
been extensive. No aspect of Chinese
civilization —whether metaphysics,
medicine, government, or art— has escaped
its imprint.»This doctrine also appears in
the Book of Changes (I Ching), being widely
accepted by bothTaoism and Confucianism.
«In the beginning there is the Great
Ultimate (T'ai-chi) —writesChan—. It
engenders yin and yang, which in their turn
give rise to the four forms.These refer to
major and minor yin and yang.»
Chan,Wing-tsit, A Source Book in Chinese
Philosophy, Princeton University Press, 1969, pp.
244,263.
From the interaction between these two cosmic forces not
only emerge the five agents and the multiplicity of things, but
also all patterns, ideas, systems, and culture are evolved.The
universe is a realm of perpetual activity and change, in which
all things are forever interfused and intermingled.As can be
seen, there is a great resemblance between this doctrine of
yin-yang and the philosophies of Pythagoras and Heraclitus.
LaoTse Confucius

The first cause or God must contain the essence of the masculine and feminine facets,
or Yang and Yin, which are manifested in all beings and things of the universe
Faced with the evidence of the universal
presence of complementary pairs of beings and
things masculine and feminine, orYang andYin,
which are crucial for their existence and
multiplication, the UnificationThought reasons as
follows:
If in all beings and things of the universe there
are masculine and feminine facets, orYang and
Yin, and since the effect must reflect the nature of
its cause ―like the work reflects its creator― the
first cause or God must also contain the essence
of the masculine facets, orYang, and the feminine
facets, orYin, and be the origin of both aspects. Masculine and feminine facets
Yang and Yin
The first cause or God

«The process by which God
created the universe, harmoniously
mixing yang and yin elements, can
be compared to a majestic work of
art or to a great symphony.
The harmonious interaction of
yang and yin is indispensable for
the production of change and
development and for the
expression of beauty.»
An Introduction to theThought of Sun
Myung Moon, RIUWT, USA, 2003, p. 46.
Comparing it with the ancientGreek philosophy of Pythagoras
and Heraclitus about the opposites, the UnificationThought states
that:
 The polarityYang andYin, and masculine and feminine, does
not imply a difference of value, namely, that one pole is
superior or more sublime and another inferior or imperfect.
 This duality has nothing to do with the contrast between good
and evil, whether moral or natural goods or evils.
 In consonance with the Pythagoreans, the harmony and unity
between these poles, both opposite and complementary, is
the source of multiplicity, variety and beauty in nature.
 It is rejected, then, that among the opposites there is a
controversial, conflicting or contradictory relationship as
Heraclitus suggested, and defended the later Hegelian and
Marxist dialectic.
The harmonious interaction of yang and yin is an indispensable factor in the variety and
development, as well as in the expression of beauty in nature

«In UnificationThought, yang and yin are seen as the
attributes of sungsang [mind, spirit] and hyungsang
[body, matter]. In the created world, sungsang and
hyungsang are seen as constituted by individual
substances, while yang and yin represent the attributes of
these.
Contrary to this view, in Eastern philosophy, yang and
yin are considered sometimes as substances and
sometimes as attributes, without a clear distinction
between the two. For instance, the sun (a substance) is
considered yang, but the sun’s brightness (an attribute) is
also considered yang; fire (a substance) is considered
yang, but so is its heat (an attribute).»
An Introduction to theThought of Sun Myung Moon, RIUWT, USA,
2003, p. 27.
.
The primary components of all the
individual entities of the universe are their
mental and material aspects, being the
masculine and feminine (yang/yin) facets
secondary qualities that characterize and
individualize the body and mind of the
individuals, thus creating an immense
variety of beings and things of nature.
This is the fundamental difference
between UnificationThought and traditional
Chinese philosophy, since the latter
considers thatYin-Yang is the essential
duality of the universe, speaking ofYin and
Yang sometimes as individual substances
and sometimes as attributes, as explains in
this quote:
The masculine and feminine, and Yang and Yin, characteristics are secondary qualities of the
mental aspects and the material aspects, which are the primary or essential components of all
the individual substances in the universe

Western philosophy, in general, has revolved around
the concepts of eidos and hyle (spirit/matter,
mind/body), while oriental philosophy has focused
mainly on the duality ofYin andYang. Although the
concepts of Li and Chi, equivalent to spirit and matter,
are also found in the oriental philosophy, they have
not been analyzed as in the idealist and materialist
currents ofWestern philosophy.
The UnificationThought can harmonize both
philosophy and cultures through the concepts of
sungsang and hyungsang (eidos/hyle, mind/body), as
primary and essential aspects of individual substances,
and the polarityYang andYin (masculine/feminine), as
qualities and secondary attributes of the mental
aspects and the material aspects of all the beings and
things of the universe, as it is expressed in the
following graphic.
The Unification Thought harmonizes Western philosophy with
Eastern philosophy
Sungsang
eidos, spirit, mind
hyle, matter, body
Hyungsang
Yang
Masculine
Yin
Feminine

Principle of the joint and generalized presence in the
universe of complementary pairs of beings or parts with
masculine and feminine characteristics, andYang andYin,
whose harmonious interaction and union generates variety,
change, multiplication and beauty in nature.These masculine
and feminine, andYang andYin, aspects are opposite but
complementary facets that come from a common origin, the
first cause or God, which contains in a united and harmonized
form the essence of both dual characteristics.
PRINCIPLE OF HARMONY, UNITY AND COMMON ORIGIN OF THE
MASCULINE AND FEMININE, ANDYANG ANDYIN

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